Matt Gurney: Yet more proof that our police need lapel cameras

There’s a very disturbing story developing in Toronto. It is, sadly, an increasingly familiar one.

John Downs, a talk-show host at News Talk 1010 CFRB, a talk-radio station in Toronto, has revealed that he was arrested and jailed overnight in January of this year. (Disclosure: I host a radio show on CJAD 800, which is owned by the same parent company as CFRB, and I also do freelance work at the latter station, including with John Downs, whom I consider a friend). According to Downs’ account of the event, he was returning home with his girlfriend early on a Friday morning after an evening on the town. He noticed police activity and got off the street car to investigate, thinking perhaps there was a news story developing there.

As it turned out, there wasn’t — a man had been injured in a minor accident, and emergency crews were responding. While snapping photos of the scene, including a pool of blood on the sidewalk, Downs recounts that a firefighter ordered him to leave the area. Downs refused, the firefighter called police officers over, and that’s where the story begins to get unpleasant.

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Downs was taken down, his face pressed into the ground, his arms pinned. (The police claim it was firefighters who initially subdued Downs, and that officers came over to complete the arrest — Downs isn’t sure who tackled him, saying it was from behind.) The take down resulted in Downs being very badly bruised, which he documented with photographs. Downs was handcuffed and put into a police cruiser. One of the officers at the scene, who knew Downs personally, spoke with the other officers and then told Downs that the firefighter had alleged that Downs had physically assaulted him. Downs was taken to a local police station and told that he had been arrested for assault and was being detained for public intoxication. Downs agrees he had been drinking that evening, over the previous four hours, including drinks with dinner and some cocktails later on with friends. He estimates he may have consumed as much as eight or nine drinks over the span of four hours, but denies being out-of-control drunk. When morning came, Downs was released, and the charge of public intoxication was only recently withdrawn.

All of this recently came to light because Downs, who obviously has a media platform, told his story publicly now that the legal issues are behind him. His complaints about his rough handling have triggered an internal police investigation. The police, in turn, have said that Downs was intoxicated, full stop, and have questioned, repeatedly, his memory of the event, implying that he was simply too drunk at the time for Downs version to be credible.

I doubt that. As I said above, I know the man. I’ve even had drinks with the man. Even under the influence, I have a hard time believing that he’d take a swing at a firefighter.

The public is being asked to choose between a prominent media figure’s claim of misconduct and the police claim that he was too drunk to be credible

But we’ll never know. Downs has laid out his version of events on his blog, and the police are sticking to theirs. That leaves us with a prominent Toronto media figure, with a wide audience, making a plausible claim that he was injured and wrongly arrested, and the police are denying it and saying he was too drunk to be believed. Unless there’s someone out there with a cellphone video recording of the entire incident, the public will be left to draw their own conclusions.

That’s bad. The ambiguity surrounding alleged police misconduct can be as corrosive for the public’s confidence in their police force as confirmed misconduct can be. This is yet another argument in favour of mandatory lapel cameras for police officers. There are too many stories of alleged police misconduct where the only evidence that can prove or disprove the claim comes from other police officers (or in this case, fellow first responders). The public can’t have confidence in that. As spoiled as we’ve all become by the frequent video recordings of such events that are captured by the public, there will still be instances where it’s one citizen’s word against the police. The public has a right to the truth, but can only get that with hard evidence. Competing claims in police notes and the airwaves isn’t good enough.

There are other disturbing issues here. Downs documented his bruises, which seem excessive, and the police response that it was firefighters that did the initial takedown isn’t actually any comfort. There’s also the fact that photographing or filming first responders at work is not illegal, so long as you are not interfering with their operations, and no one alleges that Downs was — not even the firefighters and officers who were at the scene and gave statements. There are an increasing number of stories like this, where a member of the public is arrested for filming police activity, even though there’s nothing illegal about that. There is a real sense among the public, and especially among my colleagues in the media, that the police are enforcing their powers against “interference” in their activities far, far too broadly.

But the real issue here is police credibility. Most people who allege police misconduct don’t host their own radio shows, and wouldn’t be able to hold the feet of the police to the fire and demand an investigation. Lapel cameras, which exonerate police at least as often as they convict them, are a great equalizer, putting police, citizen and even radio hosts all on the same level playing field. It’s time to take the ambiguity out of such incidents. It’s time for mandatory lapel cameras for Canadian police officers.

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